Stavridis: Afghan security more than guns

STUTTGART, Germany — The new commander of all U.S. forces in Europe on Tuesday said quelling the Afghan insurgency would take more than bullets, calling for efforts to rebuild roads, schools and farms to win local support against the Taliban.

“This is not a situation in which security will be delivered solely at the barrel of a gun,” Navy Adm. James Stavridis, head of the U.S. European Command and NATO’s top military leader told reporters.

He replaced Army Gen. Bantz J. Craddock at a change of command ceremony at the U.S. military’s Patch Barracks near Stuttgart attended by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Previously commander of the U.S. Southern Command, Stavridis is the first Navy officer to hold the job, overseeing all American forces on the continent and NATO’s military command.

Stavridis’ new assignment puts him in close quarters — and contact — with Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the four-star Army general picked to provide the fresh thinking that Gates has said is needed to win the war in Afghanistan.

“We need to pursue polices in Afghanistan that put the defense and security of the Afghan people at the center of our efforts,” Stavridis said. “All of our efforts — our allied efforts, our U.S. efforts — because that is the key to dealing with an insurgency.”

McChrystal, who replaced Gen. David McKiernan, has said he intends to run a classic counterinsurgency campaign by creating a gulf between local Afghans and the hardcore Taliban fighters in a bid to win local support and gain better intelligence.

Stavridis said he planned to meet within a few weeks with McChrystal and other members of the overhauled U.S. leadership team there, including Karl Eikenberry, who retired from the Army as a three-star general last month to become U.S. ambassador to Kabul.

“This is a situation in which we are going to have to protect the Afghan people, work in an interagency civil, military way,” Stavridis said.

Stavridis was confirmed earlier this month by the U.S. Senate to be the new NATO military commander in Europe, a position he will formally assume on Thursday in Brussels. Stavridis will play a role in trying to persuade European governments to provide more resources in Afghanistan.

Traditionally, an American officer commands the alliance’s military forces from the headquarters in Mons, Belgium, while a European civilian heads its political head office in Brussels.

“I’m very interested in finding additional and alternative ways that the allies can contribute,” he said, but didn’t give details, preferring instead to wait until he can meet with members of the 28-nation alliance and its leadership.

Stavridis has gained a reputation as an outspoken backer of “smart power” — the combination of military power and the ability to persuade through diplomacy, aid, ideas and trade.

NATO currently has about 58,000 soldiers in Afghanistan. Of those, 26,000 are Americans, and 12,000 more U.S. troops are serving under a separate command. President Barack Obama is deploying 21,000 additional U.S. forces to confront the Taliban more forcefully, particularly in the south where the Taliban’s roots are strong.

Under the administration’s new strategy, NATO will help train the Afghan security forces, which could grow to as many as 400,000, more than double the current total.

Associated Press Writer Slobodan Lekic in Brussels and AP National Security Writer Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.